twitter

Twitter users may notice a change to their timelines today, as the company that likes to boast of its real-time qualities makes its product a little less chronological.

Before this, the timeline was, as they say, one thing after another. But now, in the “spirit of experimentation and evolution”, Twitter will show users popular tweets they may have missed and even some tweets from people they don’t follow. Read more

If you thought flying a Flappy Bird was fiendish, just wait until you try swooping Swing Copters. So say new addicts of the latest free app from cult Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen, who this week overcame his famous revulsion at his previous creation to release what looks like another hit.

Droves of instant Swing Copters devotees took to Twitter Friday to bemoan how guiding the propeller-headed hero through a landscape of deadly swinging obstacles was even closer to impossible than navigating Flappy Bird’s famously exasperating arrays of killer pipes. Read more

Twitter’s stock was heading towards a new all-time low after reporting results that beat forecasts on the financials but left Wall Street wanting more from user growth and engagement. Hannah Kuchler and Tim Bradshaw bring you live reaction and updates from the analyst call.

First it was McDonalds and their #McDstories, which became more about animal cruelty than burgers with friends, then it was #AskJPM Q&A session which was cancelled after it became more about mis-selling scandals and trading losses than investment questions.

Now it is the NYPD’s turn to feel Twitter’s wrath. The force tried to use the site to start a conversation, as social media marketers are prone to saying, about the city’s love for the police. But the tag #myNYPD was quickly adopted for far more photos of police brutality than selfies with the cops. Read more

Twitter has announced the acquisition of Gnip – one of only two companies it originally gave access to the “firehose” of trillions of tweets – as the social media company pursues revenues through selling analytical services. Read more

Expectations were running high ahead of Twitter’s maiden earnings as a public company – its stock had risen by almost 50 per cent since November’s IPO.
But investors got the jitters when they saw slowing growth in user numbers and engagement rates in the fourth quarter of 2013, feeding their fears that Twitter might be a niche product which the mass market will never understand. Dick Costolo, chief executive, stressed this was a problem they had always known about and had a plan to fix. Nonetheless, shareholders were not comforted, sending Twitter shares down almost 18 per cent in after-hours trading.
In this liveblog, Hannah Kuchler and Tim Bradshaw covered reaction and live commentary from the conference call.

The company also announced last week that it will help advertisers to target people who have already visited their website and tempt them back through promoted tweets. This so-called “retargeting” is common across the web and Twitter said trials had seen “impressive results”.

Advertisers recorded substantial increases in engagement and conversion rates, and a fall in the cost of acquiring a customer. But Twitter, which has been praised by campaigners for its privacy policies, said users can chose not to see tailored ads. Read more

There was plenty of self-congratulation going on between Twitter and its advisers on Thursday. They had just avoided a repeat of the messy Facebook IPO: Twitter is officially the new darling of Wall Street.

But did they err in the other direction instead and massively under-price the offering? Read more

If there were any remaining doubts that Twitter wanted to contrast its initial public offering with that of Facebook’s, consider the way the messaging platform is running its investor roadshow.

Last May, Mark Zuckerberg donned his trademark “hoodie” and strode through the main entrance of the Sheraton Hotel, where the lobby was flooded with network reporters, cameraman and journalists. The media flurry surrounded not just the Facebook founder but also would-be investors.

But here on the 36th floor of the Midtown Manhattan Mandarin Oriental hotel in the lush Time Warner Center just off Central Park West, I am the only reporter in sight, writes Arash Massoudi. Read more

Here are five things you need to know from the messaging platform’s release:

1. Losses are mounting. Net losses widened significantly from June to September, rising from $70m in the first six months, to $134m for the first nine months as the cost of revenue increased. Read more

Twitter took advantage of the new Jobs Act to file the drafts of its initial public offering document in secret, denying journalists and investors the chance to watch its rough and tumble with the SEC.

But when the registration document was published on Thursday, the SEC also revealed the draft filings Twitter had made since it filed in private way back in July. There’s no big secret hiding here but a few interesting changes that give an indication of what Twitter may have been talking to the SEC about – although of course, they could have just decided to change it themselves. Read more

As Twitter’s IPO cranks into action, there is one big question that is puzzling beyondbrics and many others: where are the non-US users based?

In its SEC filing, Twitter admitted that “users outside the US constituted 77 per cent of our average MAUs [monthly active users] in the three months ended June 30, 2013″. Just who are the 77 per cent? And can Twitter make money out of them?

Ladies and gentleman, the moment you have all been waiting for is fast-approaching: Twitter is due to file the small print on its initial public offering, a bulky S-1 registration statement that will allow investors a peek into the messaging platform’s business.

Here is the Financial Times “Ctrl-F” guide to getting the news fast (Alternatively, please tune in to FT.com when it happens, where we’ll do the heavy lifting for you): Read more

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About the authors

Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.

Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years. He reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby from 2004 to 2013, before returning to London.

Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.

Robert Cookson is the FT's digital media correspondent in London. He
covers digital enterprise in media, from the music industry to local newspapers and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. A former Hong Kong markets correspondent, he is interested in the interplay
between old media and new technologies.

Hannah Kuchler writes about technology and Silicon Valley from the FT's San Francisco bureau. She covers social media including Facebook and Twitter and the dark and mysterious world of cybersecurity. Hannah has worked for the FT in London, Hong Kong and New York, reporting on everything from British politics to the Chinese internet.

Sarah Mishkin in a correspondent in San Francisco, where she covers payments, e-commerce, and political news on the West Coast. Prior to California, she has worked as an FT reporter in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and most recently in Taiwan, where she covered Chinese internet companies, semiconductors, and tech supply chains.